Researchers Capture the First Ever Photograph of Light as Both a Particle and a Wave

3/04/2015

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We already know that light acts as both a particle and a wave;
now the big news is researchers have succeeded in taking a snapshot of the dual
behavior of light for the very first time. Quantum mechanics states that light
can act simultaneously as a particle or a wave. Though, there has never been a
single experiment able to show both natures of light at the same time; the
closest we've come before now is observing either a wave or a particle-but not
both at the same time ever. When UV light strikes a metal surface, it causes a discharge
of electrons. So in order to see both particle and wave properties of light,
the scientists used electrons to image light. This helped in taking a single photograph
of light acting simultaneously as both a wave and a stream of particles.

Light acts as both a particle and a wave. Now, though, scientists have succeeded in taking a photograph of the dual behavior of light for the very first time. Light simultaneously displaying spatial interfering and energy quantization. (Photo : Fabrizio Carbone/EPFL)

For the experiment, a beam of laser light was fired at a small
metallic nanowire. The laser added up energy to the charged particles in the
nanowire, triggering them to vibrate. Light moved along the wire in two probable
directions. When waves moving in opposite directions encountered each other,
they made a new wave that seemed as if it was standing in place. Then, the scientists
fired a stream of electrons near to the nanowire to image the standing wave. As
the electrons hit the standing light, they either zipped out or slowed down.
The scientists then used an ultrafast microscope to image the position where
this variation in speed happened.

Fabrizio Carbone, one of the scientists who took part in
this experiment, said in news release "This experiment demonstrates that,
for the first time ever, we can film quantum mechanics-and its paradoxical
nature-directly. Being able to image and control quantum phenomena at the
nanometer scale like this opens up a new route towards quantum computing."